The Tournament of Champions

To be able to have the opportunity to play in this tournament you have to win one of the tournaments during the course of the month.  I was able to get my seat by claiming first place when we played out the last hand to see who was going to get the seat.  The other person had his seat already and when he mucked his hand it gave me the seat.  I was very happy for the chance to play in this tournament.

 

When I arrived at Jokers Casino I noticed they had a cash game going so I bought in for $40 to play the $2-$6 game.  I immediately got my chips up to around the $90 area and I should have just stepped away from the table.  I just have a hard time doing that when you come to play poker and then after 10 minutes you should step away if the money is important to you.  It is not scared money just money that would help the bankroll get started again.

 

As you can guess I ended up back down to my original $40 and at that point I stepped away from the table.  If I stepped away to save the original amount why didn't I step away when I had it doubled?  Then the next question is why did I allow myself to lose the $50?  For me it is not reading the cards and figuring out what the other person is holding.  I have a bad case of not believing the other person when they are betting into my good hand.  It should send up all kinds of warning flags and I don't seem to see them.  Any ideas to help me change that?

 

The tournament got started and we each have 3,000 in chips and the rounds are now 15 minutes.  This is different than the weekly tournaments at 1,000 chips and 10 minute rounds.  Just a little more time to try and get the chips to increase.  I am at the third table in seat number one and I am playing pretty tight.  I try to maintain my chip count and also get through the first three levels when everyone wants to play for the cheap pots.  I eventually get moved to table two and that is where I finally start gaining ground.  My chips are starting to increase and I am still playing tight with some aggression.

 

Making it to the final table for me is great.  At that point I can see all the chips on the table and figure out who I need to stay away from as well as who might be trying to hold on to their chips with their tournament life at stake.  I was getting some good cards as well.  We made it to the 2000/4000 blinds and this was going to be close.  At the end of this blind we were looking at the next level and there was four of us left.  We started looking at the chip stacks and noticed we were all about the same as we were just passing the stacks around and not getting anywhere.  At the time of the 3000/6000 blinds we decided to go ahead and chop the tournament money four ways and that allowed each of us to take home $280.  Now that was a nice week of playing poker.

 

I then stepped over to the live game to play some $2-$10 limit and again the same thing goes on with reading cards and just overall not winning the hands I think I should win.  I get down $60 and at that point I get up and just go home.  I love to play tournaments and have tried to get myself to play more cash games but it doesn't seem to play out well for me.

 

Have a good day.....

The Time Has Come

Deciding to play at Jokers again has been good for my truck.  Going only about 2 miles to the casino is a whole lot better than a ten mile drive further away.  I went down to the casino with the intent of only playing the live game and trying to increase my poker bankroll.  It is still basically zero so anything will help.

 

When I was asked if I wanted to do the tournament I told the dealer that I wanted to just play live.  I sat down with $30 to play the $2-$4 Limit game and this did not go well for me.  Every time I made a hand I was second best and I was putting money in to see it as well.  At this point in live games I am not reading the cards well or I am having a hard time believing the other person has made a hand.  I have to remember what game I am playing and the people around me.  Everyone wants to see the river card and when you start out good you end up being in a lottery in the end. 

 

During the game I did look over at the dealer and told him to go ahead and put me in to the tournament.  He just looked at me and said he already had my name down on the list.  Just can't stay away.  The tournament is a $5 buy in with $5 added for extra chips.  If you do well in the first three rounds, and you survived all of the all ins, then you do have a chance to add on to your stack. 

 

I put more money into the live game and ended up getting felted and so goes another day trying to play live.  Now there is the tournament.

 

With somewhere around 30 players I will need to be patient, and of course, do well by the time I get to the river.  With 1,500 chips to start out with I will need good cards to last, especially if you are playing hands to get something to play. 

 

One of my key hands during the tournament was my AK suited clubs.  I decided to go all in and see if I could win the hand.  I really didn't want anybody to call me.  One person across from me went into the tank.  You could tell she wanted to call but we had about the same amount of chips and this was her tournament life she was going to call with.  I am thankful I went all in first because I didn't want to have to make that decision myself.  She ended up throwing her cards in the muck and asked if I had Aces.  I just told her I liked my hand.

 

I did make it to the final table and at that point anything can happen.  I started watching the chips of the other players and staying away from the aggressive ones.  Let them work on getting the other players out before I need to do anything.  When I did play I had premium hands and won with either a raise or by winning at showdown. 

 

Finally, I was able to make it to the final two, and we decided, to chop the 1st and 2nd place money.  Making it a $150 payday.  The nice part of it was the other player already had a seat into the Tournament Of Champions and he let me have the seat for the event.  Now I hope I do well in a couple of days and play like I want to win the tournament. 

 

Have a fun day......

Back at Jokers Casino

After playing at Lucky Bridge Casino I decided to get in some time at the Live Cash game at Jokers Casino.  The reason for that is it is less than two miles from home and I enjoy the dealers there.  The one that talked about my game to others while sitting at the table is now gone and I feel more comfortable. 

 

I walked in with the idea that I would take the $50 that I won at Lucky Bridge and play some $2 - $4 Live and see if I could get it to grow.  My bankroll has been depleted and I have started to just play when I have saved up enough money to go after it again.

 

I walked into Jokers Casino and put $30 on the table and I was asked by the dealer if I wanted to sign up for the $5 tournament.  I decided to just wait to see what took place here first.  After seeing some of the regulars coming in to play and sign up I decided to play and gave the dealer the money.

 

The cash game did not go as planned and I was out in about 30 minutes.  Playing short stack is not what I like to do but the amount of money I have available for the game puts me into this situation.  I am alright with it as most everyone buys in for $20 to $50 and we are all in the same boat trying to just double up at some point. 

 

I got started in the tournament and did make the final table.  I know that making the final table is huge for me.  It allows me to play the table like a one table tournament and most of the time I am just about average in chips. Just surviving, till I get to that table, and then I can open up my game and try to wrestle some of the chips from others who think that since I am short stack I should be going out soon. 

 

This time I didn't get the cards to go my way and I am out of the tournament.  At this point my Bankroll or lack thereof is on fumes.  I will come back again and continue playing these small buy in tournaments to see if I can work myself back up. 

 

One of the things I have been working on is watching the other players chip stacks as well.  If I stay away from the larger stacks, and let them play more hands then the chance of moving up is greater for me when I can make moves on those that are my stack size.  I have also found to be tighter in playing hands that I would normally play since I don't want to put my stack in jeopardy if a bigger stack calls me.  I watch position as well.  Playing with fewer people in the pot does help if I have a bigger hand in position.  Things I have known for years but finally things that I am putting into practice.

 

Have a fun day..... 

Sunday Fun Tournament

Once a month, a friend I used to deal with, at Islands Casino has a tournament he puts on for fun and invites people to play.  I always try to make myself available for this tournament and I try do well but then again I don't put any pressure on myself.  He will give out prizes for the first one out of the tournament and I have had a couple of them.  You leave the tournament feeling bad but then again it was just a tournament that you can sit and talk and give your friends a bad time.

 

Today, as always, I try to win each tournament I enter but it also allows me to try new things to see if it might work.  I was down to two chips and I needed a hand that would get me to the final table.  This time I got the hand and tripled up and felt like I could make the final table this time.  I have never cashed in this tournament since I started playing.  I am not sure what that says about either me or the tournament but it was nice to make the final table two months in a row.

 

Once at the final table I started getting better hands to play and I started pushing the action by raising and it seemed the others were waiting for their hands to show up.  The hands I played were getting through and I was collecting chips.  The payout begins at 3rd place and that was my goal.  At least get something this time.

 

In the end I was chip leader and the three of us decided to chop the pot and we each made $50 from the tournament.  I was happy with my first cash. 

 

Maybe these smaller tournaments are the ones I should stick with for awhile.  Might teach me something about people playing their cards to showdown.  Force me to have the better cards to keep playing and make me read the cards on the board to make sure my cards are better.

 

Have a fun day......

Wildhorse Casino

The day has finally arrived and I am on my way to Pendleton, OR for the Wildhorse Poker Roundup.  I will play one tournament, in this series, and I decided on the first one.  With the Summer series there are only five days to play.  I would have to choose the hottest day of the year for us at this point.  Today is supposed to get to 110 and after the fact it did do that.  I ended up driving through it with my air conditioner on but I was still sweating in the car coming home. 

 

A little bit ahead of myself.  I arrived early and went in to sign up for the first event.  The cost of $100 + $10 + $10 for add on.  We have 10,000 in chips and 30 minute rounds. I had a little bit of a wait so I sat out in the hallway and read a magazine.  Thought about playing a satellite but I did that last time and went out pretty fast so thought better of it this time.  I will just wait for the event.

 

The closer it got to the time I started noticing a lot of the players from the Tri-Cities area were showing up as well.  We are going to be represented very well here and hopefully we have a good showing.

 

At my table I ended up having one other person from the tri-cities area so that wasn't bad.  The table behind me had five from the area and I was glad I was not sitting at that table.  My first goal was not to be taken out early.  The second goal is to make it to the first break and then after that you hope you have enough chips to make it to the dinner break where they will have a nice buffet before getting on with the evening play.

 

I was in the number 5 seat and an older gentleman was on my right.  Thank goodness since it seemed like he wanted to raise pots when he was playing.  We had a chance to talk and he told me he had just come in from the WSOP and he doesn't play very many tournaments.  He likes to travel around and play the cash games.  That explained why he was raising pre-flop every time.  He was not doing very well with that strategy.  He told me at one point that " you people play differently up here than they do in Las Vegas."  Yes, we do.  We like to see the flop and then make decisions from there.  He didn't last too much longer and he was back at the cash tables.

 

I succeeded to make it through the first break and had enough chips to keep this thing going.  In the fifth level is where it fell apart for me.  I would say I was getting impatient because I really needed the chips to make it to dinner and I played the BB with 86o.  On the turn I made two pair with a straight and flush possibilities and decided to go all in and the woman in the 8 seat tanked.  I was starting to think that she was going to fold.  This was the first time I had played with her and she had been folding so I figured I could be good.  She sat a little longer and then said the dreaded words.  "OK, I will call."  At that point I knew I was in trouble.  She could have folded and saved us all.  Well, she had the high end of the straight and I was looking for the short end with flush draw.  Didn't happen and I was headed home in the hottest part of the day.

 

That day the Tri-Cities recorded a second place to Death Valley for temperature.  We had the 110 and I don't know what DV did.  It was hot.  Lets not do that again.  I enjoyed my time at Wildhorse and will look forward to the Fall event.

 

Have a fun day...... 

Cash Game

Not much was going on for the day so I decided to go to Jokers Casino at noon and play some live.  This is a cash game that will only last one hour till the tournament starts.  The game is a $2 - $6 limit and I buy in with $30.  I normally buy in short because it only goes for the hour and I try to pick up some chips and then go home.

 

I sit down in the #5 seat and the first cards dealt to me are AA.  I decide to slow play them since this group will basically all call the $2 pre-flop.  And yes they did.  Now I just need to see what the flop holds for me.  When it came out I was relieved that it was a rainbow board and then decided to start building the pot.  I ended up with one person through the river showdown and my Aces did hold up for a nice pot.  I was now over $50 in chips.

 

Two hands later I look down at JJ and this time I raised and was followed by most of the callers.  This one went to showdown as well and I had picked up another J on the turn so it was nice and my chip stack was up over $70 at this point.  The decision now was how long do I want to sit there since there are other people waiting to get into the game and we had about 30 minutes to go before the tournament started.  I stayed long enough to give back chips down to $60 and was happy with the double up and picked up my chips with about 15 minutes left in the game.

 

Now I am ready to head off to Wildhorse Casino in Pendleton and play the tournament.  Hope it will be a good game.

 

Have a fun day......

Deep Stack Tournament Jokers

Since I don't seem to be able to make up my mind which way I want to go I am playing all sorts of games and will just have fun with them.  It hurts a little bit when I don't cash but about 15 minutes will go by and I forget about it.  One of the things I will do is try to learn from each session and figure out what I did and how I don't want to do that again.  Sometimes it works and then other times I just have to go by my instincts with something else.

 

This tournament was a $40 Buy In and we received 10,000 in chips and the rounds are 20 minutes in length.  It does give us time to play and it allows me to try some things without feeling I am going to lose all my chips in a hurry.  Of course if they don't work out then I have to play a little bit differently than I wanted.  Adjusting my play all during the tournament. 

 

In this session I decided to keep track of the amount of chips I had at the end of each round.  Since we started with 10,000 in chips that was the beginning and I wanted to see how I would do in each round and what I played.  Patience was the big area I was working on as well.

 

I didn't keep track of how the hand played but did keep track of the showdown and the ones I played.  Since we started with 10,000 chips the blinds where 25/25.  During this time I played three hands and they were JJ, 1010, KK and by the end of the first level I was at 14,025.  That was a nice chip up for the first level.  I am now hoping to continue the growth.

 

The next level was uneventful and ended up not playing any hands during the 20 minutes.  I had to pay the blinds but did not end up playing them to showdown.  I ended the 2nd level with the blinds at 25/50 at 12,300 chips.  Patience at this level was needed from me since I usually will play something.  Trying to show the new me.

 

The next level was 50/100 and I ended up playing one hand during this level and it happened to be on my BB.  The hand was the Q8 and more than likely it was called with others in the pot since everyone likes to see the post-flop before playing.  At the end of this level I was at 11,600 in chips and really I need to start opening up a bit and add to my chips now. 

 

Now that we are the next level 100/200 I wanted to start playing a few more hands and I ended up playing QJ, JJ, A10.  Even though I played them I didn't get as many chips as I would have liked.  I ended up at 10,200 chips at the end of the round.  My raises kept me from getting chips into the pot and maybe I should have played so that I would check the cards and let others bet for me and I didn't do that.  I don't like slow playing cards because I seem to lose the pots to 2 pair or straights. 

 

The next level was 150/300 and I didn't play any hands but I did seem to get to 12,600 at some point and it was climbing back up.

 

The last level for me was the 400/800 level where I was at 9,400 chips and I went all in with Q10 and was wanting to put pressure on a player to my right.  She ended up tanking for a bit and then ended up calling and my two pair was taken down by a straight.

 

I found this interesting to keep track of chip levels and not so much of the end results of the cards on the flop. 

 

I will be playing the Wildhorse Pendleton Roundup so any help I give myself will be a plus.

 

Have a fun day......

Back to NLHE

After having a good tournament with Omaha I decided to try again at the NLHE Tournament at Lucky Bridge Casino.  This tournament structure is a $30 buy in and you get 3,000 in chips to start and 15 minute rounds.  I like the structure.

 

We ended up having two tables start the tournament.  I was sitting in the three seat and my table had some experienced players sitting here which meant I needed to be careful when I choose to play a hand.  I have been changing my starting hands and using a lot of position to play.  I am trying to get myself ready for the Wildhorse Summer Event in Pendleton.  I am really looking forward to playing on the 16th of this month.

 

My tournament went very well and I was able to make it to the final table.  I was also getting cards that I was able to play and pick up some chips.  One hand I am still trying to figure out is the AA's and if it would have been better to slow play them.  I ended up three betting and got no callers.  Getting AA, KK, QQ, JJ, 1010's are hard enough and watching the table in how they play I just don't want to lose with them. 

 

I ended up going out in 5th place and again I was able to cash.  It wasn't much but I do consider it a success and especially leading up to next week when it will be important to put in a good showing at what I can do.  My goal is to go deep and cash and if I have the opportunity then go for the final table and do well.  Wouldn't it be nice to cash big at the final table.  I need to put these goals into practice and believe them.

 

Have a fun day........

Omaha Tournament

I was looking at the Casino sites and noticed that Legends Casino has a Omaha Hi/Lo tournament and I figured this would be a great way to learn the game as well as keep going with the tournaments.

 

I drove the thirty minutes to get to the casino and signed up for the tournament.  I was really early so I went to have brunch.  The buffet was not open yet so I had the hamburger.

 

The tournament started at 11:30 and we had two tables.  The structure was $5 + $5 and then you could re-buy at any time during the first four rounds for $5 for 1,000 more in chips.  At the end of the fourth round we had the opportunity to re-buy one last time and could add up to 4,000 chips to your stack for $15. 

 

I played my usual conservative and was able to get to the end of the fourth round with about 3,000 chips and then I paid the extra $15 to add 4,000 more.  I was able to make it to the final table with my style of play and made it to 5th place for a small cash.  My first tournament at Omaha Hi/Lo and it was a success.  Will definitely be doing this again.

 

I will be going over hands that I am looking for and wanting to play.  I did well in reading the cards and figuring out whether to play or not.  I enjoyed my day.

 

On the way home I was driving on the highway and looked into my rear view mirror to see a truck coming down the highway in the inside lane with a great amount of speed.  I was doing 70mph and he must have been doing 80 - 85mph.  He was by me and really moving.  I thought where is state patrol when you need them.  About 4 miles up the road there was a state patrol sitting on the side of the road.  He didn't have the truck stopped.  How could he miss him.  I noticed further down the road the same truck going over the overpass of the highway one exit before the weigh station.  This was a danger to all vehicles, truck or cars, on the road. 

 

Have a fun day.....